HRWiki:Da Basement/Archive 1

From Homestar Runner Wiki

Current revision as of 01:28, 4 November 2007

[edit] Racial Slurs

I was contacted last night by a user who claims he was banned with this message: "no more message for you, you freakin jew" (I'm not sure if that's a direct quote or not). I never saw the ban in question on the blocked IP list, so, if it really existed (and I firmly suspect it didn't), it must've been a timed block that expired before he contacted me. I will always side with admins and sysops in conflicts like this, but I hope it goes without saying that if this did indeed happen I'm sorely dissappointed. Racism simply cannot be tolerated coming from our admin/sysop staff. — Joey (talk·edits) 15:19, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

According to the Block Log (which contains every block and message by sysops whether the block has expired or not), no one called anyone "a freakin jew". —FireBird|Talk 17:05, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

This is absolutely ridiculous, but just for completeness sake:

I just searched the entire database and %jew% appears 11 times in current pages, and never in a derogatory manner. Results include "jewel case" (x2), "Jewish skullcap," "Jew's harp" (x3), "jewelry" (x2), "jewelrey," "jewel cases," "asjhfijewifjaskdjfkajewifjewjf," and of course this page. In archived (deleted) pages it appears once as "Jeweettoch" in some spam comment. One email address of a user contains a variant of the word "jewel." Nothing else.

I thought perhaps this user was referring instead to the forum, so I searched that database as well. No red flags there either.

This user didn't provide their username that was blocked or their IP address? The Blocked text includes a user's IP address and clearly instructs them to include that address in any queries they make. Also, did they say they were blocked from editing the Wiki or that they were banned from posting on the forum? Did they say who blocked/banned them? Any answers to these questions would certainly clear things up. -- Tom 20:14, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

My bad. I didn't know the block log kept track of expired blocks. If I had known that I would never have brought this up. As I had initially believed, you guys are all top notch. — Joey (talk·edits) 21:42, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I just spoke with Joey and here's how it all went down:

Late last night, Joey was contacted via instant message by an irate user about being blocked from the Wiki. The user first called Joey a big racist jerk without explanation and then claimed that Joey had blocked him and used a racial slur in the process. At first the user was unclear as to the content of the block message, but then claimed it was "no more message for you, you freakin jew". The user then told Joey that he hated him and that Joey shouldn't deny saying it. Joey was eventually able to have the user visit http://ipchicken.com to determine his current IP address. This IP address turned out to be one for an AOL proxy. Joey attempted to explain that the user was likely just blocked from editing because of another AOL user who had been blocked, but before he could finish, the user was able to edit again. The user proved this to Joey by editing an article. Joey was then able to convince the user that he needed to go to bed and signed off.

It is clear to both Joey and myself that none of our Sysops used any kind of language that is inconsistent with our principles here at the Homestar Runner Wiki. We both believe this user's claim to be as far from the truth as possible. Thank you all for your patience in this matter. -- Tom 21:48, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Article of the Week

This would be a good place to decide how we're going to choose the article of the week. Maybe the article of the week could be a rotating responsibility for sysops? Aurora the Homestar Coder 21:03, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I think that could get a little confusing and difficult, though I do think posting a suggestion and letting us (and not others- so it won't become another STUFF) vote on it would work. —FireBird|Talk 21:31, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

We're on our last JoeyDay-approved article, so we have to decide on something to do this week. If we go with Firebird's suggestion, I suggest Floppy Disk Container. Homestar Coder 19:57, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

What we really need is a good system for choosing articles. I think some nice guidelines are our first step. Are there any requirements right now? -- Tom 20:56, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

There aren't really any requirements. I would like to see the requirements: 1. has more than one or two paragraphs 2. is not in a state of flux (i.e. not a new toon or character) Homestar Coder 20:59, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I agree with Homestar Coder's suggested requirements. I say no toons, though (save odd or interesting toons, such as Where the Crap Are We?, etc.). I also don't want this to become another STUFF that we have to deal with. I think a restricted voting system (like I already suggested) would work. —FireBird|Talk 23:13, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Wow, I never knew we had a basement. This is awsome! Anyways, I totally agree with Coder. If nobody minds, I'm gonna go ahead and make a sketch of Floppy Disk Container for next week. It is always changable. ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 00:22, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)

EDIT: Sketch is in, but it's not on the featured articles page until it gets cleaned up and totally ready.

[edit] Featured Article Discussion Page

Should we just leave the choosing in this format, or move it to a different, more specific page? ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 21:06, 18 Jul 2005 (UTC)

I'd say move it to its own page. Perhaps redo the Nominations page and insert this instead. At least provide a link on that page to wherever this will end up. --acekirby13|^{My Talk} 22:42, 18 Jul 2005 (UTC)

That's true, maybe it would be best to replace the Nominations page with this. It would clean it up quite a bit. And that way if somebody suggests a page, and everybody else shoots it down, then it's done and probably won't keep popping up. And I think that to prevent edit wars, and considering that these decisions concern the Main Page, maybe the final say should only be left up to sysops or something. I haven't checked, but I'm pretty sure that's how they do it on Wikipedia. And I think there's really too many choices to make some kind of standard voting process, I think just general discussion like we've been doing here would be the best format. Start it up on mondays when the new one goes up, and actually choose it on... Friday or so, sooner if there's a total concensous on the article. Anybody else have any input? ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 04:01, 19 Jul 2005 (UTC)

I would like it if we keep it the way it is. I don't want a million anonys to clutter a talk-style page like this with their own "Marzipan's Purse" nomination (no offense). It would be best if we keep this in a fairly low-visibility and semi-forbidding environment, and leave decisions and article making to the sysops and most responsible members. If it gets too unwieldy for Da Basement, we should move it to a Featured Article Decision page. But it shouldn't be integrated with FA Nominations. —BazookaJoe 04:29, 19 Jul 2005 (UTC)

I think featured article nomination needs its own page to leave this one what it's for, but I agree with BazookaJoe that it should at least be attempted to keep only the more responsible members "in charge," for lack of a better term. Consider this a vote for a Featured Article Decision page. Username-talk 04:43, 19 Jul 2005 (UTC)

I completely agree. A page for this, and the sysops get the last call. However, I am kind of sad that the "Submit a Nomination" link goes nowhere, as that page is barely used in the Nomination Discussion. --User:acekirby13/sig 15:08, 19 Jul 2005 (UTC)

To an extent, we are sort of neglecting that page. But I still look to it for articles to bring up here. I think it's pretty much fine as is, unless somebody can think of a better system. And as for moving this page to an appropriate one, what about something like HRWiki:Featured Article Selection or something, and not officially link to it anywhere (especially the main page)? That way any helpful anonymous user can still suggest an article, but us veterns or zealous users can actually select them, in a quieter, less heated venue. ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 23:53, 19 Jul 2005 (UTC)

New page is up and running. How's everybody think of it? ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 01:57, 27 Jul 2005 (UTC)

[edit] New STUFF and Recent Changes

The new STUFF looks great. But Recent Changes is making my head hurt. Every other edit is some kind of template or vote to STUFF, which makes patrolling Recent Changes a nightmare. Will this be what it looks like as long as we have the new STUFF, or are we just tying up loose ends here? —FireBird|Talk 15:35, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It's a little of column A and a little of column B, but as long as this wiki has people voting on whether fun facts are good (and, oh, they're going to find a way to vote), then it doesn't so much matter the location of their votes (on a centralized STUFF page or on talk pages or wherever), we are just going to have lots of edits toward that end. I think the best thing to do is what we're doing now—keeping the voting as structured as simplicity will allow.

Theoretically, the number of edits will decrease now that people can make their votes and move on, instead of discussing each little thing back and forth for ten hours. Each admin and regular user alike should take strides to ensure that the new format doesn't regress into a forum. As an aside, at least the "STUFF" flag in the article title makes it easy to ignore those edits, if you so choose. — It's dot com 23:48, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Maybe we could make the Recent changes seperate Minor edits, User Page edits, and Normal Edits? Just a thought. Rogue Leader / (my talk)

You can already remove Minor edits from the Recent Changes, but I doubt the software supports removing User Page edits. It would be great if the Recent Changes page let you pick the namespace, though. Homestar Coder 16:57, 11 Jul 2005 (UTC)

According to this link, when we upgrade to MediaWiki 1.5, we will be able to pick specific namespaces in the Recent changes. — It's dot com 17:00, 11 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Just so everyone knows, this is no longer a problem. The day the new STUFF came out Recent Changes with overflowing with template edits, but all is well now. —FireBird|Talk 17:03, 11 Jul 2005 (UTC)

It's true, I do see less STUFF changes with the new system than with the old, which is good. I'm really glad that MediaWiki 1.5 will allow us to specify namespaces in Recent Changes. I have often wished for that ability (sometimes I feel like only reading talk pages, sometimes I don't want to bother with any talk pages...) Homestar Coder 17:05, 11 Jul 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Page Move Vandalism

I'm sure some of you that were around this morning will be happy to learn that in MediaWiki 1.5 page moves will be logged in both edit histories and in a Special:Log page and will also be accompanied by handy-dandy "revert" links. -- Tom 14:48, 11 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Oh, and just a note: until 1.5, pages should always be fixed using the "move" feature to maintain edit histories. -- Tom 15:09, 11 Jul 2005 (UTC)

On that note, when does 1.5 come out of beta, and is that when we'll be upgrading? —FireBird|Talk 15:25, 11 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Heh heh. Generally, things come out of beta when they are ready. I'd guess within a few weeks or even sooner. (Not too many blockers.) More information on that can probably be found on the mediawiki-l mailing list. When it happens though, we'll do the same thing as last time with 1.4: upgrade the fanstuff wiki first and see what breaks and then do the knowledge-base when we are sure everything is cool. We are going to be extra careful with this one, since there's a bunch of database changes in 1.5 that have the potential to break things. -- Tom 15:35, 11 Jul 2005 (UTC)

When you test it on the Fanstuff Wiki, please make sure not to do any irreversable damage like you did last time. Please? - Joshua 16:50, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Duly noted. Thank you for your concern. -- Tom 17:06, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps we could set up a test wiki with a recent dump of the HRWiki articles? It doesn't have to stay current, but it would be nice to be able to test upgrades on a reasonable facsimile of our database. — Joey (talk·edits) 15:34, 16 Sep 2005 (UTC)

[edit] WILLY ON WHEELS!

User:WILLY ON WHEELS! (also registered as User:Willy on Wheels! on HRWiki) is a notorious vandal on Wikipedia. From Wikipedia:Vandalism in progress/Willy on Wheels:

Willy on Wheels is a high-speed page move vandal whose modus operandi consists of creating an account (often containing the words "Willy on Wheels" or some permutation thereof) and moving a series of random pages to different titles, often appending some nonsensical phrase to the real title (e.g. Mr. Anstruther to Mr. Anstruther on Wheels!). See the list of banned users and its talk page for discussion on whether he should be considered banned.

—BazookaJoe 00:34, 15 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Well, he won't do anything here anymore. Rogue Leader / (my talk) 00:41, 15 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Absolutely not the case. Once he gets a different IP, he can very easily come back here and register a new account. He has registered more than 80 accounts on Wikipedia over the past year. Just giving y'all a heads up. —BazookaJoe 00:47, 15 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Note that a bunch of new things coming in MediaWiki 1.5 are there to combat page move vandalism, mostly because of Willy. Also note that in 1.4, an "undo" link appears in the Recent Changes list to easily undo page moves. -- Tom 00:52, 15 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I don't think that he is going to come back. I think that he knows that this is a lot smaller than Wikipedia, and will move to a different wiki.Rogue Leader / (my talk) 00:53, 15 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Hmmm... Sounds like a no good scoundrel to me. But since he's returned to Wikipedia so many times, I think that his finding our little piece of the Wiki pie will not be a one time occurance. Most likely he's added us to his list of places to vandalize, and could easily return some time soon. In any case, thank you for the heads up BJ, I'll watch for wiley willy and his wicked ways. ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 01:05, 15 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] More "Willy on Wheels" Vandalism

It's a shame really. It seems this evildoer has become even more insensitive to the ways of the wiki. Many vulgar words (of the four-letter variety) are now being used for the articles he/she moves. In the course of approximately half an hour, at least four "X on wheels" accounts were created and more than twenty pages were unjustifiably moved. Fortunately, Tom showed up and blocked the whole IP range. I know many are looking forward to some of the enhanced security features MediaWiki 1.5. should bring... Our "light at the end of the tunnel" one might say? —THE PAPER ^PREEEOW 06:23, 15 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] WoW, Aug 22nd 05

He's struck again. Looks like he could be here to stay... ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 02:12, 23 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Articles Pending Deletion

I've been noticing lots of discussion on certain articles about deleting that certain article or not, such as Talk:Buckethand. These discussions never lead anywhere helpful, and the pages usually just end up staying. I'm thinking that sysops should have the final word for the article, since debating obviously never gets us anywhere. Maybe something like HRWiki:Featured Article Selection with the sysops would be good. —FireBird|Talk 16:14, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Why would there be a need for another page? Sysops can discuss the merits of a page on its talk page just as easily as anywhere else, right? — It's dot com 16:19, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I don't think that there's a need for another page, but it would be nice if we had a more organized system for dealing with pages up for deletion. There's the Wikipedia "Votes for Deletion" system, but that seems unnecessarily complicated for us. Homestar Coder 16:23, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I would hate for this to become another STUFF, because it's really not necessary. Especially since most of the dozen or so articles that we're talking about are somewhat useful and aren't really taking up space. I think the problem is that there's a flurry of discussion right when the TBD tag is applied, but then there is no verdict. — It's dot com 16:33, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Technically (in the technical sense), the final say is left to sysops, since they are the only users who can delete articles. It's a sysop task to delete pages that need deletion, so as long as the deletion policy is adhered to, there shouldn't be a problem. Sysops should feel free to go through the items up for deletion at their leisure. There's no need for a separate page or a new process. -- Tom 16:36, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Also, I've found that there are quite a few users who seem to just go around and comment on articles that are up for deletion. Usually, their opinions are strong in one direction or the other, and rarely are these opinions backed up with fact. They also seem to like to bring up threats of making a point, such as, "Well if you delete this article, then you should also delete Article A, because they are both similar!" or "You can't delete this article, because it's just like Article B, and that article hasn't been deleted!" and so forth. Any one else notice this? -- Tom 16:42, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I've noticed that. At least our deletion problems aren't as bad as on Wikipedia. Anything we can learn there? — It's dot com 16:49, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

One of the ideas/suggestions they have there (Categorization) is exactly what we do already. Go us. -- Tom 17:05, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, it seems like half of the people commenting on pages up for deletion don't really have a good argument, they just yell, "NO I LOVE THIS PAGE" or "WHAT A WASTE OF SPACE DELETE NOW." I think if a consensus (say, 2/3) can't be reached in a reasonable period of time (say, two weeks) then the article should be kept. As Dot com pointed out, a few articles of questionable usefulness won't really hurt the Wiki. Homestar Coder 17:21, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Yea, I'm pretty happy with our setup too. Besides somebody voulnteering to give me the occasional soft kick in the leg and reminding me to check the articles up for deletion catagory, I can't think of any more improvements. ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 23:52, 16 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 68.113.212.144

(all contribs)
I request that this user be warned and closely monitored for a permanent block. Since June, nearly all edits made have been trollish or borderline-trollish. A list of offenses include:

• Replacing lines of transcript with nonsensical context (blocked 48 hours).
• Adding following Fun Fact: "A wiki member, clearly '-erson' (who is gay) wrote this email"
• Adding TBD templates to small, yet vaild pages.
• Spamming pages with "i want a dollar" messages (blocked 72 hours).
• Removing TBD template from article truly pending deletion.
• Tampering with the Sandbox line.
• Blanked the updates page with an advertisement for a blog (this and above; blocked 48 hours).

The most recent act which got my attention was the removal of a line of talk page text with an advertisement for a Cool Tapes article on Wikipedia (which is pending deletion due to its insignificance). The user sometimes makes (or tries to make) useful edits, which are always reverted. To reiterate, this user should be warned to clean up his or her act, if not be permanently blocked. —BazookaJoe 18:33, 20 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Isn't it common practice to permanatly block a user that has a history of trolling? Anyway, I think he should get the permanent ban. Rogue Leader / (my talk) 18:43, 20 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Blocked. —FireBird|Talk 19:14, 20 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Page-move vandals impersonating members

[edit] It's Dot Com!

Someone who made a userpage in the name of It's Dot Com! (note the capitalization and punctuation) has moved several pages: [1], [2], [3], [4] and [5]. I moved them all back. This is not our bloved user, but a common troll — Elcool ^(talk)_(contribs) 14:43, 23 Aug 2005 (UTC)

*sigh* This is not the first thing a person wants to read when he wakes up in the morning, I can tell you that much. Anybody ever had their credit card stolen? This feels a little like that. Now that this guy has been reported, dealt with, and blocked forever, does this section need to stay here in Da Basement? I'd just as soon not be reminded of it. — It's dot com 14:11, 23 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I posted it here because of the two other sections in here about trolls. I won't mind if got deleted if you feel uncomfortable about it. — Elcool ^(talk)_(contribs) 14:43, 23 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Maybe that was just an initial reaction. I dunno... So long as everyone clearly realizes that It's Dot Com! ≠ It's dot com. 14:59, 23 Aug 2005 (UTC)

As you can see from the list below, I was just the first victim of many. Beginning with "Interuptor" Jones below, see what Jay and I got to clean up over the last two hours. You'll notice the descriptions get shorter and more stream-of-consciousness toward the bottom of the page, until eventually I just started a bulleted list. The question is, has the storm passed, or is it coming? — It's dot com 08:06, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Bazooka Joe

There is a similar problem tonight. A user calling himself Bazooka Joe (with a space, not to be confused with our troll fighter), is another page move vandal. Is it possible to know whether the IP addresses for these two trolls are in fact one and the same? — It's dot com 04:23, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

On second thought, the answer is no, they're not the same, isn't that right? The same IP would be autoblocked, wouldn't it? Are the IPs similar? Maybe it's in a dynamic range. — It's dot com

Exactly. Such trolls are virtually impossible to block completely (e.g. Willy on Wheels). —BazookaJoe 04:31, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] InteruptorJones

And now InterruptorJones has his own personal impersonator by the name of InteruptorJones (without the double-R). I'd sarcastically say "what's next?" with examples if I didn't know those examples would probably be used. --Jay (Talk) 05:51, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] ThunderbirdL17

Mere minutes after InteruptorJones was blocked, ThunderbirdL17 (without the space found in the user name of Thunderbird L17) appeared. Persistant loser, huh? --Jay (Talk) 06:02, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] J ay

Apparently it was Jay's turn. *sigh* Doesn't this guy have better things to do? — It's dot com 06:04, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Oh, come on. Even a newbie can see the shoehorned space in that. Not as though I had any respect for this moron's intelligence to begin with... --Jay (Talk) 06:06, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Firre Birrd

This guy's just getting sad. Firre Birrd isn't even all that close to FireBird. --Jay (Talk) 06:08, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] JoeyD ay

And now our proprietor. — It's dot com 06:12, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Who does this idiot think he's fooling? All the sysops know that JoeyDay would never be a worthless page move vandal. --Jay (Talk) 06:14, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Probably hasn't crossed his mind. A thought like that would be too sophisticated for him. — It's dot com 06:16, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough. And it's not like you or BazookaJoe or any of us sysops would be so moronic either... --Jay (Talk) 06:17, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] ToM

Don't the rest of you wish you were awake for this? It's loads of fun reverting this jerk. — It's dot com 06:20, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

He just doesn't get it. Is he one of those morons that thinks that we have no life, and thus spends his lack of life trolling a website he cares nothing about? Wouldn't shock me. --Jay (Talk) 06:21, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Homesar Coder

This truly is sad and lame. I feel sorry for this troll's mother. On a side note, I guessed correctly that Amanda would be next. — It's dot com 06:25, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

He must have dug up the Sysop list. Though I do find it interesting that he's not (so far) choosing the sysops that haven't been around in a long time. --Jay (Talk) 06:26, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

And he started with me and Joe. This guy knows us. I don't suppose you can prevent the creation of new accounts, just for a few hours? — It's dot com 06:29, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

If I can, I don't know how. --Jay (Talk) 06:31, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Hmph. "Homsar Coder" would've been more creative. Stupid troll. ≈Homesar Coder (apparently)≈

[edit] Docterhaggis

I mean, can't he even spell "doctor" correctly? Please. — It's dot com 06:33, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I recall one of these obscene redirects (the one that went to The Sturge) from weeks ago when we fought a similar problem. I wonder if it's him from all that time ago. — It's dot com

[edit] ThePaper

Preee..ouch! — It's dot com

I'd say! —THE PAPER ^PREEEOW

[edit] Killroy

Should be Kill trolls... No, that's not very funny. I could do better. It's late. Cut me some slack. — It's dot com 06:41, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] The cheat1234

Hmm. I don't recognize who that's supposed to be. Maybe he's just making up names now? I need me a Dr Pepper if we're gonna be doing this for a while. — It's dot com 06:47, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, come to think of it, all my caffeinated drinks are still in the car from me shopping earlier today... --Jay (Talk) 06:49, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] RougeLeader

Well, it's obvious he's reading this page. Interesting. Note that "Dr Pepper" rightly has no period after Dr, a fact that he overlooked. — It's dot com 06:54, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I feel so offended. Rogue Leader / (my talk) 02:12, 25 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Firefoxman

Quoth the troll: "D'oth! Motherf—— 'Jay' and 'It's dot com!' have no life!" Which one of you told him? — It's dot com 06:58, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I'm looking around and think that there may indeed be a way to stop him from creating new accounts. But I might have to be JoeyDay (which I'm of course not... nor am I JoeyD ay!) in order to do it. --Jay (Talk) 07:01, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

This confirms that Mr. Idiot is reading this page - he made a reference to my joke above. I wonder if he realizes that not one single person on this planet other than himself thinks that he is funny. --Jay (Talk) 07:09, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ed smild E

Another one. You all know the drill by this point. — It's dot com 07:04, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Others

These were created after 07:08, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC):

• Agent Sethorro - 07:08, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)
• Meta Star - 07:13, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)
• -Erson - 07:22, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)
• Cyriuss - 07:27, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I think I have him blocked now. I blocked two IP ranges who both left trollish messages on my Talk page (forgot to make a new user name, huh?) He hasn't done anything since (yet), though I'm getting a little edgy over edits made by other IP addresses. --Jay (Talk) 07:42, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I'm sure we'll know soon enough (those other anonymous users may have been regular people... tough to tell). — It's dot com 07:46, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

They haven't done anything that bad yet (well, one of them impersonated Joshua on the STUFF page, and perhaps CrazyDog too) but I'm a little jumpy right now. Truth be told, they don't match the IP ranges of each other or the trolls. --Jay (Talk) 07:48, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I'm hoping it really was CrazyDog and that he was just careless somehow. Wow. Two hours we've been at this solid. — It's dot com 07:51, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

After some poking around, I discovered why it wouldn't let me block one of the ranges the way I wanted. It ended with a /13, but in order to block ranges, they have to be /16 or higher (the larger the number after the slash, the fewer addresses are actually blocked.) However, since I blocked the wrong range the first time I blocked that range, and since "Cyriuss" vanished around then, I suspect it was the other one that was the mastermind. --Jay (Talk) 08:01, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

There's one answer for us there in the recent changes, by the way. One of the anonymous IPs was legit. (For those reading along, a user who edited her page anonymously was asked to log in. She then did.) — It's dot com 08:02, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I noticed that. Sorry for reverting it, Homestramy, but I'm a little jumpy tonight after a huge troll attack! --Jay (Talk) 08:04, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

P.S. In case anyone wonders how big a "huge attack" is... Jay and I re-moved (and then Jay removed) 101 articles and talk pages in the most recent round of page-move vandalism. — It's dot com

Wow, that's awsome work guys. Sorry I was asleep. But look on the bright side, at least there was a sysop up. I'm sure it could have been alot worse if it was Dot com and Bazooka Joe trying to fight a loosing battle. In any case, thanks for all your hard work. And in a strange way, I feel kinda honored that I was the fourth to be impersonated by the troll, since he was going somewhat in order of activeness. After it's all said and done, I think it's kinda noteworthy that Dot com and Bazooka Joe were the first two to be impersonated, followed by a long line of Sysops... In any case, we all owe the two of you a debt of gratitude. Thanks J ay and It's Dot Com! (just kidding, I couldn't resist). ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 11:42, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Indeed. I'm glad I went to bed after Bazooka Joe, or I wouldn't have gotten any sleep. —BazookaJoe 13:57, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

The things that happen whan I'm in school. Lucky I got the first one, eh? — Elcool ^(talk)_(contribs) 14:59, 24 Aug 2005 (UTC)

NOTE: It occurs to me that the ban on this idiot (and all the nearby IP addresses) runs out tonight if no one extended it. If he returns, block the IP range, not the user names. --Jay (Talk) 02:11, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

• Think that Homeschool is Alive is the same guy? Homestar Coder 23:23, 30 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Thanks for working so tirelessly to keep the Wiki free from trolls. I'm also glad you documented this. Just now I used your list to go through the database and physically delete the faked usernames. You guys rock. — Joey (talk·edits) 03:03, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Some H*R themed username

Not to be confused with Some HSR themed username. —BazookaJoe 11:17, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Jeez, and I haven't even done anything signinficant in a while. It's been planned for a long time. Kind of sad, really. Username-talk 17:47, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Philip

Not to be confused with phlip, who did a very nice job of fighting this troll. Looks like the range will have to be re-blocked. Some H*R themed username and Philip should be removed from the database. All the page-move by-products are in Category:To be deleted, so you won't have to screw up your eyes looking through recent changes. —BazookaJoe 11:16, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Personally I think it's just entertaining... reverting "Some H*R themed username"'s trolling and spotted them trying to get back by trashing my user page and taking my name, and still not managing to do anything that wasn't fixed with two clicks of the mouse... makes one wonder why people bother... phlip ^T_C 11:48, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

Given that he wasn't blocked until I came online, I'm surprised he stopped on his own. Ah well. He's blocked, now for four days (assuming the Wiki lasts that long) and all his mess cleaned. I'm half-tempted to block the range permanently, but I don't like doing that when the range isn't set aside to a company that specializes in spam (though I've done it before, when the user was particularly malicious and the ISP refused to do anything about it.) --Jay (Talk) 17:15, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

These usernames have been deleted from the database. — Joey (talk·edits) 18:45, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 1936 vs. Old-Timey

I'm not sure if this is the best place for this, but no one's reading it in on 1936's discussion page, so I'll post it here. Should we change the outdated and inaccurate "1936" title to "Old-Timey," the one TBC use and isn't outdated? 1936 is very big so changing it will be a rather large project. Should we do it, or is 1936 better? - Joshua

If it would be okay, I'm willing to at least start it. -- mibluvr13^dígame

Since I think I was the one that started that discussion, I think you should all know that I'm for it. --Jay (Talk) 17:15, 25 Aug 2005 (UTC)

I also agree that the term "Old-Timey" is a more accurate way of recognizing characters and toons from that "era". Given that 1936 refers to 2003 based on the "67 year difference" rule, I think this project has its merits and although it would be a rather large project (as Joshua pointed out), I also would be willing to help out moving articles and working on redirects, etc. —THE PAPER ^PREEEOW 22:26, 26 Aug 2005 (UTC)

BTW... They actually started doing this a couple of days ago and now are pretty much finished. — It's dot com 22:34, 26 Aug 2005 (UTC)

It never ceases to amaze me how fast change can be implemented around here. Amazing job, folks. — Joey (talk·edits) 01:54, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

[edit] #hrwiki Scheduled Chat Site Notice

The chat room has been much busier lately, but I'd still like to hold the scheduled chats as noted on the HRWiki:IRC channel page. I've really dropped the ball on putting up the site notice every week, but I hope to do better from now on. Anyway, the reason I'm saying all this is that I'm not sure all the sysops know how to set up that site notice in case I'm not around to do it (maybe you didn't even know you could do that?). All you have to do is replace the hyphen at MediaWiki:Sitenotice with {{subst:Template:scheduledchat}}. Then, when the scheduled chat is over, you should edit the site notice back to the single hyphen. For some reason, simply clearing that page causes errors. Anyway, hope to see all you guys in the channel soon. — Joey (talk·edits) 02:23, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)

And that's 5 - 9 eastern time every monday night, or 2-6 Pacific time in my case, for anyone who's forgotten. ⇔Thunderbird⇔ 16:12, 27 Aug 2005 (UTC)